Gardening

In the Garden – November 2021

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The garden in November was pretty, but brimming with weeds!  The weather was all over the place having us in short sleaves one day and reaching for the winter woollies the next!

On the 12th it began raining, there were weather warnings for a rain band that was going to produce unusual amounts of rain.  The rains continued through the next day, it just rained and rained and rained with our first reading of 60ml!  Flood warnings kept flashing up on the phone, but we are up high, so were lucky.  We’ve had more rain than ever this year, that is compared to what we’ve had in the past five years (that’s how long we’ve been here).  Probably not strange, really, because of the drought we’ve experienced since arriving.  Clearly the drought is over.

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In the garden – November 2020

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This was November in our garden!

The espaliered fruit trees needed trimming, the weeds were taking over, beds in the vegetable garden needed to be dressed and prepared for planting, and the list goes on!

Fortunately the flowers were not so discerning and provided happiness both in the garden and in vases indoors.

In the Garden – November 2021
Beautiful Icebergs
Sweet Peas in the Garden
Self Sown Poppies, Pears & Sweet Peas
Iris – Six Pack – A favourite from my late mum’s garden
Sweet Peas in the Garden
Self Sown Poppy
Beautiful Icebergs
Sweet Peas in the Garden
Iris – Social Event from my sister, Sonnie’s collection
Lamb’s Ear in bloom – 27 November.

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Julie your quilt. A gift from Family

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Recently we took a little break and travelled home to be with my gorgeous sisters and to visit our beautiful mum. I say home, because that is still what we call it, it is the home that we all grew up in, and love so very much.

After a five plus hour road trip, we arrived at home to find Sonnie and Jan working hard in the garden, they had arrived earlier in the day and had done some amazing work tidying things up.

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Gifts from a Neglected Garden

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The last twelve months have been nothing short of chaotic, resulting in so many things being neglected, one of which is our garden. The vegie patch was overrun with weeds and I felt that I wasn’t getting the produce that I should from it, given that I didn’t have time to care for the soil, plant out all the seeds and seedlings that I had planned to, etc.

I had planted some sweet potato slips in late spring/early summer and they took over, neglecting to climb the wire that I had set up in preference to rambling all over the footpaths and garden beds. I eventually got so frustrated with the mess that, about a month ago, I decided it was time to pull them out, telling myself that I would never to grow them again. I had planted one little row, about one meter, or a tad over 3 feet long. What a surprise when I started digging down. My neglected garden had provided us with a lovely basket full (almost 4 kilograms / 8 lbs) of beautiful tubers destined for our kitchen.

The tomatoes did not do as well as they should, but it appears that it was not the season for tomatoes for most that I spoke to (it was a very harsh summer), however we had enough for everyday use and for making the annual batch of tomato sauce, a much sought after family favourite. The pumpkin vines that I had growing up archways provided a few fruit and the beans were plentiful resulting in a well stocked freezer.

My first ever saffron crocus flower! One must be patient…
My wonderful surprise from below – Sweet Potatoes…
My homegrown ginger…
I love these pumpkins…
Bunches of beautiful rhubarb from the garden…
Rosa lunga onion…
Celeriac, celery and parsley…
From one saffron crocus flower…
Rosa lunga onion

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Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose!

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I’m always on the lookout for new bits and pieces for the garden, not necessarily always plants though. I recently picked up an old patio chair that someone no longer had any use for and had thrown away. I think that Gary thought that I had lost the plot!!! The old chair had plastic straps across the seat which weren’t really strong enough for what I wanted, so Gary replaced them with metal strips. Then armed with a spray can of metal undercoat and a pot of very pretty blue paint, I got to work transforming the dull old grey chair into a piece for the garden. I love the final result and can’t wait for the ivy geranium to get growing and mingle in and out of the pretty blue structure. On the same outing I also managed to get a small broken base of a metal table that has been turned upside down and secured in the raspberry patch – it is holding a little pot ready to be planted up – and then there was the rack from an old golf buggy that I have pushed into the ground and placed an old baking dish filled with stones on, and then topped it with a pot of strawberries – What a wonderful treasure hunt…

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